What Mountain Bike Dirt Crits: Crawforth tops podium

Specialized UK’s Jody Crawforth powered to the elite win in the What Mountain Bike Dirt Crit Champs powered by Rose Bikes yesterday, capitalising after two of the race’s early leaders punctured.

Advertisement

Crawforth built up such a strong lead on the tight, loose 1km course at BikeRadar Live after first Paul Oldham (Hope) and then Oli Beckinsale (Giant) flatted that it looked like he had the 12-lap race in the bag. And so it proved.

He eventually crossed the line in 00:37:52. Nick Craig (Scott) came home second, 41 seconds behind, and third place went to Whyte Bikes’ Billy Whenman (although a timing mixup meant Rourke Croeser took his place on the podium), another 50 seconds back.

Nick craig finished second: nick craig finished second

Cross-country veteran Nick Craig, 41, proved he can still cut it with the young guns

Billy whenman took the third spot on the podium: billy whenman took the third spot on the podium

Whyte’s Billy Whenman fought hard for third place

“It was hot and dusty, and quite hard work,” said Crawforth. “The course was a bit tighter than I was expecting. It’s tough when you’re going at full race pace; because the climbs are really loose, you can’t really put the power down.

“I was comfortable for the first few laps and Paul was in the lead and he punctured. Oli’s a really fast rider but I was determined to hang in there and then he punctured too, and that gifted me the victory. I had a bit of luck come my way this time.”

Oli beck: oli beck

A puncture ruined Oli Beckinsale’s race, but he picked up £100 for being the lap 4 leader

Conspicuous among the 25-strong elite field was multiple BMX, four-cross and dual slalom world champion Brian Lopes, riding his Ibis Tranny four-cross bike on flat pedals and in baggy shorts. After a strong start he finished eighth.

Also in the mix was BikeRadar product tester Guy Kesteven, proving that he has the bike handling skills and fitness to back up his writing prowess. He finished a creditable 15th on his Santa Cruz Tallboy test bike – watch out for a review on BikeRadar soon!

The elite women’s race saw a battle for first place between ­ Lily Mathews (100% Me) ­ and Cait Elliot (WXC Racing) after early leader Annie Last (100% me) punctured, with the former eventually claiming victory. Third place went to ­ Maddie Horton (Team Certini).

Of course, it wasn’t just the elites who were racing in the Dirt Crit Champs – there were categories for riders aged eight and upwards and there was plenty of cross-country action going on in the What Mountain Bike Hot Laps too. There’ll be a full report on all the cross-country racing at BikeRadar Live in issue 113 of What Mountain Bike magazine.

Women’s podium:

Women’s podium (L-R): Cait Elliot, Lily Mathews and Maddie Horton

Perhaps the biggest winner on the day was Andy Bishop, who won a £1,500 bike from race sponsors Rose after his race number was pulled out of a hat. “When my mate told me I’d won a bike I thought he was winding me up,” he said. “I’d had a really good day and that put the icing on the cake.”

Rose’s Andy Mayne, who handed out £3,000 worth of prizes in total, said: “What a race! Great weather and great riders hammering away on a super-fast spectator-friendly course! Being a family run company ourselves, it was brilliant to see so many parents and children taking part, never mind the number of elite riders who turned up. Rose were really pleased to support the inaugural What Mountain Bike Dirt Crit Champs and it’s certainly something we’d like to continue to support.”

Someone else who was happy was andy bishop, who won a free bike of his choice from race sponsors rose after his race number was pulled out of a hat.

Andy Bishop won a £1,500 bike from Andy Mayne of Rose Bikes

Results

Unfortunately, some errors have cropped up in the results of the cross-country racing. If you spot any mistakes, please let us know at bikeradar@bikeradar.com.

What Mountain Bike Dirt Crit Champs powered by Rose Bikes

Position

Race #

Name

Chip Time

Laps

Pro elite men

1

5

Jody Crawforth

00:37:52

12

2

1

Nick Craig

00:38:33

12

3

11

Billy Whenman

00:39:23

12

4

23

Andy Blair

00:39:43

12

5

16

Paul Robertson

00:40:08

12

6

6

Ben Thomas

00:40:38

12

7

9

Chris Andrews

00:40:48

12

8

29

Brian Lopes

00:41:05

12

9

3

Oli Beckingsale

00:36:42

11

10

18

Paul Beales

00:38:17

11

11

7

Anthony O’Boyle

00:38:27

11

12

12

Sion O’Boyle

00:38:35

11

13

17

Christian Aucote

00:38:50

11

14

27

Paul Lasenby

00:40:02

11

15

39

Guy Kesteven

00:40:45

11

16

8

John Whittington

00:41:22

11

17

21

Euan Adams

00:43:37

11

17

22

Steven James

00:28:11

8

18

10

Rourke Croeser

00:35:28

7

19

4

Paul Oldham

00:11:14

3

Pro elite women

1

32

Lily Matthews

00:53:10

11

2

38

Cait Elliot

00:38:40

10

3

33

Maddie Horton

00:39:15

10

4

30

Annie Last

00:40:13

10

5

312

Melanie Spath

00:38:02

7

Veteran men (40+)

1

58

P Saunders

00:28:38

7

2

64

C Palozzi

00:29:22

7

3

70

A Dewhurst

00:29:40

7

4

73

Tim Marsh

00:30:38

7

5

74

Mark Cutler

00:31:17

7

6

60

R Nord

00:31:34

7

7

62

RC Payne

00:32:19

7

8

69

AS Glynn

00:28:18

6

9

55

D Koryczan

00:28:26

6

10

71

R Ketteridge

00:28:49

6

11

68

RJG Hughes

00:29:18

6

12

59

C Mason

00:32:54

6

13

66

I Pulsford

00:31:03

5

14

61

A Hand

00:19:57

3

15

?

?

00:09:19

2

16

67

RK Goodwin

00:06:45

1

Veteran women (40+)

1

81

Emma Cutler

00:28:47

6

Sport men (18+)

1

138

J Horton

00:29:54

8

2

137

Nick Popham

00:30:21

8

3

108

BD Lewthwaite

00:32:00

8

4

125

RS Matthews

00:33:09

8

5

109

DE Pointer

00:33:24

8

6

128

A Bishop

00:33:33

8

7

130

A Bishop

00:30:35

7

8

124

A Hodges

00:30:37

7

9

132

L Meader

00:31:02

7

10

135

G Billingham

00:31:41

7

11

118

N Dent

00:31:52

7

12

126

R S Matthews

00:31:57

7

13

150

Tim Davies

00:32:06

7

14

104

P Ploughman

00:32:09

7

15

144

B Parker

00:32:13

7

16

127

RS Matthews

00:32:10

7

17

146

Robin Howett

00:32:25

7

18

115

RJ Haworth

00:32:50

7

19

102

C Bunnell

00:33:14

7

20

145

Scott Walklate

00:34:10

7

21

119

Gareth Wooffitt

00:34:06

7

22

129

A Bishop

00:30:15

6

23

101

R Cochrane

00:30:59

6

24

114

V Sparkes

00:31:20

6

25

131

PG Mitchell

00:31:20

6

26

117

Iain Richens

00:32:37

6

27

110

M Bell

00:32:07

6

28

113

V Sparkes

00:34:27

6

29

107

RJ Hebbron

00:30:03

5

30

103

G Spreadbury

00:14:06

3

31

111

GG Mills

00:11:22

2

32

139

F Clifford

00:04:20

1

33

136

G Deardon

00:05:23

1

34

112

RG Munn

00:05:33

1

35

106

Chris Elliott

00:05:47

1

36

134

DJ Forrest

00:06:15

1

Sport women (18+)

1

148

Magali Jimenez

00:30:56

7

2

142

EL Birtles

00:31:39

7

3

149

Sarah Taylor

00:30:15

6

4

141

Di Fry

00:33:04

5

Sport men (15-17)

1

153

Dan Barford

00:31:57

8

2

176

Ae Pearce

00:31:59

6

3

152

I Pulsford

00:31:19

5

4

267

J Wesley

00:32:29

5

12-14 Boys

1

232

William Chaeny

00:14:11

4

2

205

Chris McGovern

00:14:55

4

3

229

Chris Barker

00:15:30

4

12-14 Girls

1

226

L Mander

00:16:26

4

2

231

S Middleton

00:17:59

4

10-11 Boys

1

282

Toby Martin

00:08:07

3

2

258

R Mitchie

00:08:23

3

3

271

James Hughes

00:08:25

3

10-11 Girls

1

303

Lisa Driver

00:09:47

3

2

305

Mary Hand

00:11:54

3

3

306

Caitlin Moore

00:12:47

3

8-9 Boys

1

283

Nathan Martin

00:08:43

3

2

286

Callum Rhead

00:09:38

3

3

280

Tyler Pace

00:09:38

3

8-9 Girls

1

259

Megan Panton

00:10:29

2

What Mountain Bike Hot Laps

1

401

BD Lewthwaite

M

03:20.10

2

436

Nick Popham

M

03:20.20

3

415

MJ Fisher

M

03:22.20

4

420

J Horton

M

03:28.75

5

475

A Carter

M

03:33.00

6

432

M Horton

F

03:43.35

7

434

T Arnold

M

03:50.50

8

435

M Baker

M

03:51.75

9

422

N Reed

M

03:53.70

10

481

S Bussey

F

03:55.00

11

480

A Moore

F

03:55.00

12

453

T Strange

M

03:55.00

13

417

L Meader

M

03:55.20

14

425

A Burd

M

03:58.75

15

421

J Cooper

M

03:58.75

16

471

A Wills

M

03:59.00

17

473

M Bebbington

M

04:01.00

18

467

R Nord

M

04:01.00

19

450

Jannik Sundo

M

04:02.05

20

469

N Magee

M

04:03.00

21

423

N Prior

M

04:03.75

22

474

Kyle Windsor

M

04:12.00

23

414

T Strange

M

04:14.55

24

410

P Wenlock

M

04:18.45

25

449

Arthur Martin

M

04:20.60

26

402

RG Munn

M

04:22.40

27

478

SA Carter

F

04:26.00

28

418

Guy Billingham

M

04:26.90

29

411

M Beastall

M

04:27.70

30

416

PG Mitchell

M

04:34.75

31

404

AM Kokic

M

04:39.15

32

465

D Pryce

M

04:49.00

33

472

A Kear

M

04:50.00

34

424

P Boyd-Leslie

M

04:58.40

35

409

P Wenlock

M

05:14.15

36

451

A Armstrong

M

05:36.00

37

433

BD Collins

F

06:30.75

38

457

M Sw Tinay

M

06:43.00

39

405

K Smith

M

06:46.35

40

464

D Passiful

M

07:34.00

Team darenth had a strong showing in the junior categories and walked away with a spot prize of a pair of wheels as well as numerous podium places:

Advertisement

Team Darenth had a strong showing in the junior categories and walked away with a spot prize of a pair of wheels as well as numerous podium places